Through the Shadows
by LadyAdarah
Summary: UPDATE: Chapter 7 up! News arrives that Vulcan survivors have been found in an unlikley place - the Enterprise must come to their rescue at once! How will Spock fare dealing with a renegade admiral, looking after Vulcan orphans and trying to prevent war?
1. Chapter 1

_This is an adventure of the Enterprise and all its crew, but will focus on Spock and the plight of the Vulcans. _

_Hope you all enjoy my new story! :-) Please comment if you do!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek or any of its characters, as much as I'd like to!_

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**Chapter 1**

"Captain, we are receiving a transmission from Admiral Mayer at Starbase Deep Space 7," Uhura informed Kirk.

"Put it onto the main view screen, Lieutenant," he replied smoothly and rose from his command chair.

The admiral's face appeared on the screen at once.

"What can I do for you, Admiral?" Kirk enquired.

"A starship carrying Vulcan civilians was attacked in the a nearby star system, which is not too far from Deep Space 7. The local authorities there believe Orion pirates are to blame. These are the only details we have currently, though. We are co-ordinating with the authorities. However, I would also like the Enterprise to be here. I believe the presence of Starfleet's flagship would send out a powerful message that such despicable acts will not be tolerated. Captain, I would like discuss this in further detail with you once I have more information to share with you," the admiral replied.

Out of the corner of his eye Kirk noticed Spock move closer. The recent destruction of his home planet had hit him hard, Kirk knew that better than anyone due to his mind-meld with his first officer's older self. He turned to Spock and nodded ever so slightly, allowing him to address the admiral.

"Admiral, there are no Vulcan colonies near Deep Space 7 from which or to which large groups of Vulcan civilians would be likely to travel. How many people are we talking about?" Spock asked.

"As I said, we don't have many details yet. But initial communications would indicate anywhere between fifty and a hundred passengers. Not a small number," Admiral Mayer replied.

"We will be there as soon as we can. Keep us updated as you receive more information, Kirk out," then, returning to his seat, he continued, "Set a course, please, Mr Sulu. How long will it take us to arrive at warp six?"

"34 hours, Captain," Sulu replied.

Kirk looked over towards his first officer. He appeared as calm as always, but Kirk would bet his last bottle Yridian brandy that underneath that blank exterior his emotions were currently causing quite a turmoil.

There were so few Vulcans left, which was especially surprising considering that they were a space-faring civilisation. After the Enterprise had been repaired they had conducted a few scientific missions, but this was the first time since Nero's attack that they were heading out to do more than just collect stone and dust samples. He still hardly knew his first officer. Kirk made a decision.

"Mr Spock, walk with me," he said.

Once they were in the turbolift, Spock turned towards Kirk and raised an eyebrow questioningly, "Where are we walking to?"

"My quarters," Kirk replied, "It's easier to talk there."

"Is it?" was all Spock said in return.

The pair didn't talk until they reached the captain's quarters. Inside, Kirk motioned for Spock to sit down opposite him at his desk.

"Tell me, Spock, as this may be important for our new mission, how come there are so few Vulcan colonies? For a space-faring civilisation there seem to be incredibly few Vulcans living on other federation planets, spacestations or colonies."

Spock remained silent for a few moments before replying, "I take it you deduce this fact from the small number of survivors. Indeed, in total there are no more than fifteen thousand Vulcan survivors."

"And ten thousand of those were recorded having escaped from the planet," Kirk said softly.

Spock nodded. Then he continued, "Indeed Vulcans used to travel, explore and colonise the galaxy. Those were the days before the teachings of Surak and the enlightenment on Vulcan, though. Since then my people have become ever more introverted, with almost all returning to Vulcan over the centuries. Most colonies were abandoned, those that survived retained only a small cohort of scientists who remained to study local space phenomena. The study of the mind and of logic took greater precedence over the study of the galaxy."

Kirk nodded in understanding. He leaned back in his swivel chair and had to resist the urge to put a foot up on his desk. This was probably not a good time to show any disrespect. He remembered Spock's hand around his neck suddenly and was certain that he didn't want to do anything to provoke the Vulcan opposite him into becoming emotional.

"Is that all, captain?" Spock asked.

"Yes, yes, of course. If I have any more questions I know where to find you," he said and put on a bright smile to try and lighten the mood. However, Spock simply nodded and left leaving Kirk to this thoughts.

Well, well, well... the loss of Vulcan was still a fresh and gaping wound in the heart of the Federation. It had been one of the founding planets of the Federation and it had been the Vulcans who had made first contact with humans and had welcomed them into the galaxy. Starfleet certainly owed it to the Vulcans to do everything in its power to protect the remaining survivors and see to it that they had a chance to rebuild their culture on a new world. This ship full of Vulcans was a bit of a mystery though by the sounds of it.

Kirk brought up a starchart of the sectors around Deep Space 7. The space station was incredibly close to the Romulan border he realised.

Kirked hailed the bridge and had Uhura set up a secure channel to Admiral Mayer from his quarters.

"Captain? I had not expected to be speaking to you again so soon," the admiral said.

"I am sorry, Sir. I simply have a few questions regarding our mission. What sort of contact do you have with the Vulcan ship?" Kirk asked.

"None so far. The authorities in the nearby starsystem helped the Vulcan survivors and passed the message onto starfleet. That's all that's known currently. However, what I have not told you yet, is that we are heading straight there with some ships," Mayer replied.

"Admiral, you are very close to the Romulan border. What side of the border is the ship?"

A mirthless grin spread across Mayer's face, "My, you really are quick, aren't you? I thought you had probably realised what was up when this came through on a secure channel. Indeed, the ship's currently in Romulan space. Well, they claim this space as their own at least. The planetary system is the Milverna system. The people living there call themselves the Tratters and see themselves as independent from the Romulans. However they are not keen on the Federation either."

"But they are helping the Vulcans?" Kirk asked.

"Yes," Mayer answered, "From what we can tell from their correspondences with us they seem to be a very peaceful people. Very reasonable. However, we don't know much else about the Milverna system, due to its location. The Romulans seem to respect them enough to have granted them a large degree of autonomy within Romulan territory, though. It seems to me that the Tratters would do anything to make sure that they remain on good terms with both us and the Romulan Empire, although they wish to belong to neither. They seem to be keenly aware that their system lies on the edge of the two borders and do not wish to be dragged into the midst of a border conflict if they can possibly avoid it, even if that means accepting the Romulan flag on their planet for the time being. "

"Sir, I am sure we are in agreement here that we must avoid antagonising the Romulans unnecessarily. How are we going to go about this rescue mission?" Kirk wanted to know.

"Covertly," was Mayer's simple reply.

Kirk stared at him for a few moments in disbelief before answering, "You mean we are going to enter Romulan space undercover without asking permission? What was all that stuff you said earlier about wanting the Enterprise to be there as a symbol of Starfleet's power? Are we still talking about a pirate attack or are we speculating on a Romulan attack?"

"We only have the Tratters' word that it was a pirate attack. They would naturally want to avoid a war between the Federation and the Romulans. We will have to wait and see, it is too early to draw conclusions on what happened to the ship. It could very well be that this was a pirate incident, but we don't know for sure," the admiral said, "And I do want the Enterprise here so that her presence can send out a signal. Not to any pirates though, whether they were to blame or not, but to the Romulans. The Enterprise itself will not enter Romulan territory of course. I think it best if we send out smaller craft that are harder to detect. We will need to create a bit of a distraction elsewhere along the border, though, if we are to draw the Romulans' attention away from the rescue operation. So to come back to what you said earlier – antagonising the Romulans is actually exactly what I want you to do, but without dragging us into a war. That goes without saying really."

Kirk couldn't believe his ears. This was far, far better than spacedust! He flashed the admiral and smile and lowered his voice slightly, "Don't worry, Admiral, you can count on the Enterprise."

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_Hope you enjoyed the introductory chapter! I'd love to know if you like it and any thoughts you have on it! _

_There will be more of this story up very soon! :)_


	2. Chapter 2

_Thank you all for the favourites and story alert adds! :-) Glad you all like the story! And so to prove to you guys that this story is worth keeping an eye on - an update!  
_

_Diclaimer: I don't own Trek_

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**Chapter 2**

"Sulu, how long until we get there?" Kirk asked impatiently.

"Another hour, yet, Captain," Sulu replied.

Kirk stopped pacing the bridge. He realised he was probably making his crew nervous. He cleared his throat to address them, "Right, now that we are nearly there, I think I should explain the situation in more detail."

He looked over at his first officer and wondered if he should have confided in Spock earlier. Too late for thoughts like that now though, he thought.

"Admiral Mayer and I stayed up most of last night discussing the plans for the rescue of the Vulcan civilians. The problem is that the site of the attack is across the border in Romulan space," Kirk paused for dramatic impact. No one fainted or screamed – his bridge crew had no sense of drama, obviously. He like overacting though.

Kirk continued, only slightly deflated, "Now, the plan we came up with to bypass this problem has not _exactly_ been sanctioned by Starfleet command. That is, we will of course let them know what we are doing as soon as we can, but we are currently experiencing interferences in subspace communications with them. Aren't we, Lieutenant Uhura?" he said looking at his communications officer.

A look of confusion flashed across her face briefly, before she collected herself and answered, "Yes, of course, Captain. Lots of interference. I cannot pick up any signals through this 'interference' we are experiencing."

Kirk grinned and nodded, "Good! We have an admiral on our side anyway, but we don't really want to risk getting headquarters involved just right now. They might misunderstand our intentions."

"Captain," Spock interrupted, "what are we intending to do exactly?"

"Ah, good question, Spock!" Kirk said and gave him a companionable slap on the back while walking across to the other side of the bridge. He didn't want the crew to think this was some kind of game that he was enjoying, but he couldn't hide his excitement at finally being able to do something useful and challenging.

"The Enterprise will create a diversion so that Deep Space 7's rescue ships, as well as a few of our own, won't be detected by the Romulans. As first officer, Spock, you will be heading the away mission to rescue the Vulcans and bring them back to the starbase. Then we will accompany them all to the new Vulcan home-world. The distraction," and there he leant down on the helm between Sulu and Checkov, "should of course be a large one, though as innocent as possible. We don't want to cause any major border incidents here."

He spun round and looked at Spock, "What are you still doing here, Spock? We arrive at the starbase in one hour! Start organising the away team!"

Kirk watched him leave the bridge. Ah, no point in divulging all the details to Spock's logical mind. All he'd do would be to systematically work out their probably minuscule chances of success and worry. He needed Spock to fully concentrate on the difficult task ahead without having to worry about whether the distraction the Enterprise would provide would work or not. Of course Spock would never admit to worrying, but Kirk suspected that he might not be immune to it what ever the half-Vulcan might claim.

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McCoy was not happy. He had barely had an hour to gather a team and brief them quickly on Vulcan physiology and gather his equipment. He couldn't blame Spock though, he'd only found out an hour ago too, by the sound of things. But that did nothing to improve his mood and he realised he was starting to stress. How could he not, though? Of all the medical personnel on board, he was the only one who knew anything about Vulcans at all. If only he'd had more time. Damn it, Jim could have told him earlier!

There was nothing to be done about it all now. He sighed and made his way to the transporter room. Next to his three medical officers were four further security officers. In the midst of them all was Spock handing out last minute orders.

"So, are we ready to go?" he asked Spock.

"I believe so, doctor," Spock replied and the whole team stepped onto the transporter pads.

They had beamed straight into the docking ring of the station. An admiral, presumably Mayer, McCoy thought, was there to greet them.

"Gentlemen, welcome to Deep Space 7. Commander Sellik, who is in charge of the spacestation is sorry he couldn't be here to greet you in person, but he is currently busy co-ordinating with the Enterprise. I'm sure you understand," the admiral said.

"Certainly," Spock said, "Admiral, may I introduce Doctor McCoy, our chief medical officer. He will be joining me on the away mission."

"Wise choice," Mayer said gravely and held out his hand in greeting towards McCoy, "Admiral Mayer."

"Pleased to meet you, Admiral," McCoy answered, "May I ask how we are going to be travelling?"

The admiral nodded and turned round, indicating that they should follow him. They finally reached what appeared to be a shuttle bay of sorts. The ships all looked like a load of junk to McCoy. His day was not getting any better.

"They are old Andorian trading ships. We hope they will look innocent enough to the Romulans," Mayer said as he presented two small, old ships to them.

"And how did you acquire this antique junk at such short notice?" McCoy asked in mock cheerfulness.

"We have far more of the sort. Our rescue crews are already underway in a few more of these. They are smugglers' vessels that we have impounded over the years. Believe me, in this part of the galaxy it's wise not to throw away anything that may prove to be useful one day. And as luck has it, they are coming in pretty handy right now," Mayer answered.

"You don't say?" the doctor said, still eyeing the ships suspiciously.

"Are these the ones with the largest transport capacity?" Spock asked.

"They are roomier than they look from the outside. Not much point in a smuggling vessel that can't hold a lot of cargo, see? The smugglers are a pretty ingenious bunch, you have to give them that much credit. All the old Andorian engines have been replaced with a custom-made, more streamlined propulsion system that saves a lot of room and weight for quick getaways from planets. There are also some old Starfleet transporter pads in there. Very ingenious," the admiral said, shaking his head, as if lost in some memory.

Once he had left McCoy walked over to Spock.

"You think if one of these things broke, you could fix it?" he asked.

"I am not an engineer, doctor. However, the technology seems primitive enough to make any repairs we may require fairly straightforward. I have taken a quick look at the computer systems too, and I feel I can handle them well enough," Spock replied.

While not exactly what the doctor had wanted to hear, at least he could trust that Spock wasn't lying.

"Right, I'm on your ship then. And don't try to object, because no ten horses are going to get me onto the other ship," he said. He didn't trust any of the security officers who'd be on the other ship to be as competent as Spock at flying and repairing the ship. And he had no doubt it would need repairing at some point. It would be a miracle if it even made it out of the shuttle bay without disintegrating, as far as he was concerned.

"As you wish, doctor," Spock replied and proceeded to climb up a metal ladder to enter the Andorian vessel in front of him.

He didn't even comment on the fact that there were no horses in the shuttle bay, McCoy thought sadly. It worried him a little to see Spock so demure and reserved. It wasn't like Spock to not give a task his full attention, but McCoy suspected that Vulcan blood or not, everyone seemed very emotionally affected by this rescue mission. Kirk and the admiral were willing to go ahead with some risky plan that might cause a war with the Romulans and not even let Starfleet know what they were doing in case they objected. And the worst thing was that he understood them very well, on an emotional level at least. He didn't want to think about this plan too much though, or he might have to protest that it was ludicrous and he found himself wanting to help those pointy eared bastards who had lost their home-world.

He'd taken a look at the proposals Starfleet had come up with for the new medical facilities that would be needed on the new Vulcan home-world (he wished the Vulcans would hurry up and give it a damned name). It had been like a punch in the stomach when he had read the specs for the paediatric ward. There had been a detailed list of the number of survivors from each age range attached, so that the wards would be fully equipped to handle the numbers. However, only ninety four-year-old Vulcans had survived. At one hundred and thirty two, the nine-year-olds had fared best it seemed,... but for an average of only about one hundred and twenty children in each age range to have survived... it chilled him to the bone. That figure was high considering there were only fifteen thousand Vulcans left and that they had a very long life span, so in comparison to a group of humans that size, a far higher percentage was expected to be older. That knowledge wasn't much comfort, though.

These chilling thoughts and numbers would not leave his mind, even as Spock started up the engines in the former smuggling vessel and guided their small crew of four out through the large shuttle bay hatch and into space.

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_Comments very, very much appreciated! :-) Hope you had fun reading! _


	3. Chapter 3

_Thank you for your comments! :-D_

_Green - since I can't reply to you in PM: I think you will find that I was not avoiding the issue of Spock's thoughts on this illogical plan, simply saving for this chapter (which I've finally edited! So yay, an update! :-) ). I hope you like it, let me know what you think of Spock's reaction to the situation. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek_

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**Chapter 3**

"Can you fix up these probes to do that, Scotty?" Kirk asked his chief engineer.

"You're mad! Barking man!" was his reply.

"I take that to be a yes," Kirk said grinning.

"Oh, I can do it alright, aye. But yer plan is still mad. If Romulan technology is more advanced than ours they might not take the bait. Or even worse, see that we're trying to bait 'em. You really cannae tell me how far advanced their sensor technology is?" Scotty said.

"I'm afraid not. We've seen what they're future technology looks like, but apart from that we've hardly had much contact with them. The Vulcans had a bit more contact with them, but it was all diplomatic letter-writing. I doubt they got a scan of any of their ships close up," Kirk replied.

"Well, it's a gamble then," Scotty said, whilst inspecting the PADD Kirk had handed him outlining his ideas for a 'distraction'.

"How long will these ghost ships have to appear on their sensors for?" the chief engineer asked eventually.

"Not long, but their signal has to be strong enough to appear as more than just a blip to the Romulans on their long range scanners. We'll be positioning ourselves as close to one of their outposts as we can without crossing into their territory," Kirk explained.

"Right, I can rewire ten photon torpedoes to do the job. They have a good enough energy supply to power the probes to send out the right frequency echoes to appear as if they were heavily armed Starfleet vessels. But that'll leave us without our best weapons if your plan goes awry and we find ourselves in the midst of a war zone," Scotty warned.

"Alright, I'll take that risk," Kirk said and grinned again, "Now get to work!"

As he stood alone in the turbo lift on his way from main engineering back to the bridge he reflected that everyone was taking to this mission remarkably well. No one had protested at the fact that they were basically going renegade by not having Starfleet command involved. But was it because the cause that was so popular or the enemy so unpopular? A Romulan had tried to destroy Earth, too, after all. He had grown up without his father due to a Romulan. He tried to push such thoughts out of his mind.

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McCoy had to admit that he had been wrong about the ships they had been given by the admiral at Deep Space 7. They were not luxurious, but they were roomy and not only did they not fall apart, Spock was also able to manipulate their ship's engines the way the smugglers had probably designed them to be used. The ship flew through space beautifully. They had already caught up with the first ships Mayer had sent out and Spock was now leading the small squadron up to the Romulan border. McCoy watched Spock's fingers dance gracefully over the controls. At this speed they would soon reach Milverna V which the Tratters inhabited and laid claim to – as did the Romulans, he reminded himself.

The tension was getting to McCoy though so he got up and walked over to the controls and sat down next to Spock. He studied the screens in front of him. The other ships were right on their trail and they were approaching the border fast.

"Spock, what are you thinking?" he asked quietly, making sure they were not overheard.

"I did not wish to say so while we were still at the Starbase, but I question Admiral Mayer's motives and methods," Spock confided finally.

"Yes, we are risking everything for a few Vulcans. Do you not agree with that? Would you rather we turned round? Those are your people out there, Spock!" McCoy said. He knew Spock was only voicing the concerns he had also had about this ridiculous plan. However, he couldn't help feeling that if everyone else was willing to risk their necks on this mission, Spock should be thankful rather than critical.

"Although we are all acting under Admiral Mayer's orders, we are also complicit in his insubordination," Spock said, "While it is normal for Starfleet officers to take the initiative and act without direct orders under such circumstances in which communication would take too long or is not possible, here a deliberate attempt has been made to avoid contact with Starfleet Command although the situation is serious. Disregarding the Romulan Empire's border could be constituted as an act of war."

"Alright, I understand that. I think we all do," McCoy snapped back, "So how do you think the Admiral should have acted? You can turn around if you don't agree. You are in command of this squadron after all. As you said, you are just as much a part of this deception of Starfleet command by carrying out these orders."

Now Spock turned round to face the doctor straight on, "Doctor, relations between the United Earth and the Romulan Star Empire have always been precarious, but until recently no one thought war was likely. However, since the destruction of Vulcan diplomatic relations between Earth and Romulus have become increasingly hostile."

Here Spock paused to check himself that they were not being overheard and lowered his tone, "My father informed me that there are certain factions within the United Earth government that actively seek and welcome war with the Romulan Empire. Until recently they were a small minority with very little influence as the Vulcan authorities mediated between the two sides, seeking peaceful resolutions to any border conflicts. Now, without their intervention, though, I believe that war may be imminent."

"Well, aren't you just the optimist," McCoy sighed, "You believe Mayer might actually want war with the Romulans?" he said in a tired voice.

"It is a possibility I do not wish to disregard," Spock said.

McCoy was determined not to let the conversation end here though, not without getting a few more answers out of Spock, "So what do you think about this rescue mission? Surely you are not going to abandon it? What if you are wrong and Mayer is only trying to help your people."

"The plan is still likely to antagonise the Romulans at a time when relations are difficult," Spock said.

"Don't avoid the question and give me a straight answer," McCoy said curtly, "What do you intend to do? Are you going to disobey orders and report to Starfleet command? They might not agree and cancel the mission."

"I am aware of that, Doctor," Spock said.

McCoy couldn't believe his ears. He clenched his hands into fists without realising what he was doing and raised his voice, "No one here wants to turn and abandon the Vulcans, apart from you it seems," he replied.

Spock turned to the other two crew members, who had no doubt heard that sentence, "Well, gentlemen? The choice is yours."

"We don't want to turn around," they both said in agreement, although they were clearly puzzled at being asked to make such a decision.

Spock didn't elaborate further though, as his gaze was drawn to one of the displays. He opened a channel to the other ships, "We are about to enter Romulan space. However, before each of you proceed I want everyone to be aware and to make a note in their system logs that this course of action was not sanctioned by Starfleet. Admiral Mayer of Starbase Deep Space 7 chose to withhold details of the situation from Starfleet Command. I advise therefor that we disregard all orders we have regarding this mission."

Next to him McCoy had put his hands over his eyes and was slowly shaking his head in frustration when Lieutenant Mulloch's face appeared on the viewscreen. He was one of the Enterprise's security officers and was at the controls of the other ship that had left the base at the same time they had.

"Commander, we hear you. However, we would all like to continue on regardless," the young man said.

"Then in my capacity as commanding officer I hereby place us all off duty, since we have no orders to follow. I will send a message detailing our situation to Starfleet Command. I will also make a note of this in the ship's log. I will send you a flight plan with the co-ordinates where we will rendezvous in the Milverna system," Spock replied. At the mention of the word 'we' a smile flashed across Mulloch's face.

"Thank you, Sir," he said.

A small smile spread across McCoy features too. Spock actions showed that he did want to go ahead with this mission, but it seemed he could only justify it by distancing himself and the others on this mission from Starfleet. If this was a rescue operation he could undertake on his own, McCoy thought, he would probably have resigned from Starfleet and gone off on his own.

"What about the other ships, though?" McCoy asked, "Those are Mayer's men."

However, that question didn't need answering as the commander of the other ships got in contact with that at that very moment. He confirmed that he had decided to place himself and his crew off duty too after discussing the situation with Mulloch.

As soon as Spock terminated the connection to the other ships, McCoy grabbed him by his arm and said, "So now we are still doing something highly illegal, but the responsibility is on our own shoulders now and not Starfleets. I see. And you are going to inform Starfleet Command of this?"

Spock meanwhile laid in the flight plan.

"If we are caught by the Romulans, Doctor, I want it to be clear that this was an action taken by a few renegades. It may help prevent a war," Spock said calmly.

"So, that might have been the Admiral's plan all along, except he wanted all to be on his own shoulders. I suppose we will never know, eh?" McCoy said.

The plan was still risky, though. They might now all technically be on leave, but would the Romulans care? Why was Spock going ahead with the plan? Because of his emotions or because it was logical? Ha, Spock just couldn't admit that he was acting illogically, because clearly this plan was still as ridiculous as it got, he thought. Though, he wasn't about to point this out to Spock. Not right now at least.

As Spock recorded and encoded the message for Starfleet Command McCoy thoughts strayed and he found himself thinking of the Enterprise. He didn't know what Jim was up to right now, but he didn't want to know really, if he was completely honest with himself.

Another small part of him also wondered why he wasn't particularly scared or horrified of the possibility of war. He tried not to dwell on that too much and put it down to the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

The course Spock had plotted was taking them straight on to the Milverna system. The authorities on Milverna V had contacted them just under half an hour ago to inform them that some of the Vulcans had been taken to a military medical facility on the planet's only moon. So that was their new destination. There was no way to tell whether they had crossed the border into Romulan space except for one small diagram in the corner of the screen which showed their ship crossing the invisible line.

"And there we go," McCoy said, as they crossed the border.

Once they crossed the border Spock briefly scanned the area ahead and then sent each ship a different flight plan, so that they would not appear too conspicuous.

He stayed with Spock at the controls and watched as they quickly reached the perimeter of the Milverna system and sped onwards towards their destination.

Since they had entered the system their scanners had detected one military base after another on their way to the central planetoids.

"Impressive military, for such a small world, don't you agree, Mr Spock?" McCoy said as their scanners picked up yet another fully armed warship.

"I presume they feel this show of strength is necessary for the Romulans to take them seriously and allow them some degree of autonomy within their territory," Spock replied.

"Let's hope they really are as peace loving as we have been led to believe, that's all I'll say," McCoy said.

"Peace loving they may be, but in such a situation it would be more logical to chose sides, even if they don't really care for either," Spock said.

"And what side would you advise they chose?" McCoy asked sarcastically.

"From their point of view – the stronger side, which is more likely to win in the case of a war, of course," he answered.

"Of course," McCoy said, "but tell me, I still don't get it, what's wrong with trying to stay out of it all?"

"That there is something to stay out of, Doctor. If problems are anticipated, they would be better off choosing sides. In the worst case they might manage to make enemies on both sides, as you cannot truly be friends with both sides during a war, particularly if you are on the boundary," Spock said.

McCoy lowered his voice once again and said, "So you think we will cause a war?" just as some kind of alarm system went off on their ship.

"Spock, what the hell's happening?" he shouted above the din of the sirens.

"Seems to be some sort of early warning proximity device. I am attempting to deactivate it," Spock answered and soon the alarm stopped. Two ships were now clearly visible on the screen.

"We are being hailed by one of the Tratterian ships," Spock informed the doctor before responding to the hail. It was audio only. McCoy sighed in relief. For a moment there, he had imagined that the Romulans had discovered them.

"This is General Rag'va, of the Tratterian Armed Traders Fleet. We will guide your ship to the co-ordinates of the Vulcan vessel. There are still survivors on board. We cannot reach them, though. You may have more luck."

The Tratterian general had closed the channel again, before Spock even had a chance to reply.

"Interesting," Spock said, "They might have a large fleet, but they truly are just what they claim to be. Armed, organised traders. From my scans of their vessels it is clear that they have very limited attack and defence capabilities. They do not seem to possess very advanced technology."

They hadn't been far from the Vulcan ship at all and it swung into view in front of them. The design was not anything McCoy had ever encountered before. In fact, he reckoned it looked even more thrown together and haphazard than the tin can they were travelling in. Spock, however, genuinely seemed excited, his Vulcan control slipping for just a moment as a smile flashed across his face. There was a light in his eyes that McCoy had never seen before.

"You recognise that ship?" McCoy asked.

"I do recognise that ship. She seems to have been altered much, since I last saw her, but I believe that ship is the _Dvatai_. She was once my father's," Spock explained.

McCoy took another look at the vessel. Nope, even on second glance, she just looked like a floating pile of metal debris. Then again, she had been damaged severely, that was obvious. He watched as Spock opened a channel to Mulloch's ship which had also just arrived at the scene. Mulloch's face appeared on the screen instantly.

"Lieutenant Mulloch, it would seem the Tratterians are not in possession of any sort of transporter technology, which hampered the rescue operation. However, I have been able to lock onto half the life signals and am preparing to beam them aboard. Once I have done so, proceed to transport the remaining people onto your ship," Spock said.

McCoy watched as a group of roughly twenty dark-robed figures materialised in the centre of the ship's roomy interior.

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_Hope you all enjoyed it! Please let me know :-)_

_To be continued! _


	4. Chapter 4

_Thank you very much for all your comments, people! :-D Very, very much appreciated! Motivates me while writing! :-) _

_Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek_

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**Chapter 6**

"Capteen, we are detecting over fifty Romulan sheeps. Zay are all armed and ready for combat, sir," Chekov reported.

"Good," Kirk said, "The more ships here, the better. It'll give Spock and the others a better chance of remaining undetected by the Romulans."

"The Romulans are hailing us, Captain – in Romulan," Uhura said, "Should I act as a simultaneous translator?"

"Yes, please do, lieutenant. Do we have visual? I don't think they've ever actually shown themselves to anyone from the Federation. If it wasn't for Nero, we wouldn't really know what they looked like," Kirk replied.

"We do have visual, Captain," Uhura said.

However, he was not ready for the sight that greeted him. Instead of seeing a Romulan on the viewscreen who looked like Nero, he found himself staring into the face of a Vulcan. Kirk couldn't hear what he was saying, as Uhura had muted the sound. The Vulcan just opened and closed his mouth soundlessly until Uhura could catch up and started talking.

"Radaik is my name and I am head of this ship and this fleet of the Romulan Star Empire. We will destroy you and your fleet. Your amassing of troops has not gone unnoticed. We have foiled your plan to attack us ... in... cowardly in secrecy and will fight you here," Uhura translated on the spot.

"I am Captain James T. Kirk of the Starfleet vessel USS Enterprise," Kirk said, "Friendly greetings to you to. We are not here to start a war or attack you. We are merely conducting scientific investigations of the nearby nebula. And I hardly think you can call one ship a fleet, Captain. Oh, and Uhura, are the channels closed when I speak in English?"

"Yes, they can't hear you right now, sir, I will only send my translation," she answered.

"Ok, translate that then. But tell me, are they really talking Romulan? They look like Vulcans to me!" Kirk said.

"It's Romulan alright, Sir," she replied.

He was still smiling, but it was a fake smile now. This was not a laughing matter, he knew.

When Uhura had finished translating the message into Romulan he found that he didn't need his communication's officer to understand the reply. The face that had before looked Vulcan to him was now an ugly mask of rage and anger.

"Captain Kirk, because we are backwards in technology you think we are also stupid, but you make a great mistake. We know of ... jacket... protective clothes...," here Uhura shrugged at Kirk apologetically, "devices and that you planned to attack us in secret of the cloudy night."

Now Kirk felt he understood a little how Spock must feel when they used human sayings and turns of phrases he hadn't come across before – utterly confused.

"There really are no other ships here. If you just conduct a detailed scan of our space, I am sure you will find the same. This is all just a big misunderstanding," Kirk said.

This time they didn't get a reply though. Once Uhura had translated and sent that message, the Romulans terminated the connection in anger.

"Protective clothing, Lieutenant?" he said, turning round to face Uhura.

"I am not sure, Captain. I had never come across the word before, but that is what it would mean if it were Vulcan," she said.

"The languages are that similar, then?" he asked, still intrigued by the Romulan's identical appearance to Vulcans.

"It is well known that the languages of the Vulcans and Romulans both share a common root, Captain. They are not very similar however and xeno-linguists on Earth are not sure how much time has passed since they diverged from a common tongue. It could be hundreds or thousands of years," she answered.

If it were only hundreds of years ago, surely Vulcan historians would know more about the Romulans, he thought bitterly. He remembered back to the battle for Nero's ship. Spock had insisted on coming, claiming Vulcans and Romulans shared a similar culture so it would be easier for him to find his way around once on Nero's ship.

He shouldn't really have been so surprised to see that they looked so similar. It seemed everyone else was aware that they shared some common ancestry, why hadn't he ever thought about this before? But what about Nero's appearance?

"Chekov, what are the Romulans doing now?" he asked.

"Not much, Sir. They seem to be waiting for more sheeps to arrive," came the reply.

So he still had a bit of time to work on a way of getting them out of this. As interesting as the Vulcan/Romulan mystery was, it was not his main priority right now.

"Can we scan their ship from here, Mr Sulu?" he asked, "The Romulans admitted they were technologically less advanced. Can you confirm that?"

"Their shields are no match for our sensors, Captain. I am scanning them right now," and then after a pause he continued, "It indeed appears that they are not as advanced as we had thought. They're armed with nuclear weapons. Captain, their sensor arrays are very basic. I believe that this is the problem. We were worried they might see through our decoy ships and detect the photon torpedoes too soon. But we are encountering the opposite problem. Although they are easily within reach to use their short range scanners and to make visual contact, they are still unable to tell whether these are real ships or not. They can't see them on their viewscreen, but their scanners tell them otherwise. "

"Our deeception was too good?" Chekov asked.

"That's what I believe," Sulu answered him.

"Bridge to engineering," Kirk said, "Scotty, I need you up here, we have a bit of a problem."

As he sat back in his chair contemplating the situation other thoughts started to invade his mind. Were Spock and McCoy actually going to find themselves in some Romulan trap? Spock had said it was an odd part of the quadrant in which to find a ship full of Vulcan ex-patriots. And they only had the Tratters' word that they were Vulcan. Did the Tratters know that Vulcans and Romulans looked alike? Surely they could at least tell Vulcan and Romulan ships apart. Those were indeed very different in shape. Had the Tratters maybe deceived them? Or had the Romulans hatched some awful plan? It was a possibility that he had to consider.

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_Hope you all enjoyed that chapter! A bit shorter than my average chapter, but chapter 3 was quite long! _


	5. Chapter 5

_Hey thank you all for the reviews and favourites! Green, I'm really glad you like the story! I always have the original characters in my mind when I write, no matter how hard I try to visualise the new ones - I grew up with TOS! Hehe! However I am going to let this new universe be a different one in which all the characters have taken different paths. Am trying to work out what all their paths might have been in this alternate universe is certainly fun! :)_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek_

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**Chapter 5**

McCoy and the other two crewmen, Nurse Brown and Lieutenant Richardson, watched as the dark robed figures materialised in front of them.

"Is anyone wounded? I'm a doctor," McCoy shouted, tricorder and medical aid box at the ready.

The group of Vulcans parted silently to reveal a tall man in their midst. A wounded woman hung limp in his arms. He stepped forward and placed her carefully on the ground in front of McCoy. She was unconscious and a streak of green blood ran down her forehead.

"She was struck on the head when part of the ship's structure collapsed. I believe her skull was fractured in several places," the tall Vulcan said.

"Spock, we have to get to those medical facilities on the moon, and fast!" he shouted whilst scanning her head.

"I am taking the ship there under Tratterian guidance as fast as they will allow," he replied without taking his eyes off the controls. .

McCoy's initial scan revealed that her status was critical. She was bleeding into the brain and numerous veins and nerve fibres had been torn. He hoped they would reach a hospital in time, as he knew there was little he could do for her here. The most he could do was keep her alive until then.

"Brown, pass me a hpyo with 50 cc's of C-Hematonein," he shouted at Nurse Brown.

Brown had just finished setting a broken bone and briefly put a temporary splint around the injury before filling and handing McCoy the hypo he required. Meanwhile McCoy had repaired the skull as best as he could, though he was still fighting an upstream battle against the woman's internal brain injuries.

"She's going into cardiac arrest," he said as a red light started flashing urgently on his tricorder.

"Charge the angeion-cardia stimulator and pass it to me," he shouted, "I'm losing her, Brown!"

Brown passed over the device and McCoy proceeded to stimulate the Vulcan woman's heart. Time slowed down for the Doctor. In his mind's eye he could see the last grains of sand falling down in the woman's hourglass of life. The seconds stretched out as he battled to keep her alive. This was it. Leonard McCoy versus the Grim Reaper himself.

It didn't actually take Spock very long to reach the moon as he flew and navigated the ship to the best of his ability, but to McCoy it seemed like an eternity.

"Doctor, I have arranged everything with the Tratters," Spock finally shouted from the front of the ship, "I will beam you straight into the medical facility."

"Do it right now, gods damn it, time is not on our side!" he replied.

Spock fingers flew across the controls and McCoy felt himself immediately enveloped in the familiar energy pattern.

For a moment McCoy was not sure where he was, but some Tratterian Doctors appeared by his side instantly and helped move the patient onto a bed. His hopes were sinking though. The technology seemed very antiquated, it was not what he had been hoping for. He didn't have time to try and interface it with his tricorder and although Brown appeared to be with him, Spock and the others hadn't transported down. They would land and be along soon, no doubt, but what he really needed now was Spock's computer expertise.

"Just hold on, do you hear me?" he shouted to the Vulcan woman. He knew that the desperation he felt was evident in the tone of his voice, but he couldn't care less about that as he detected that yet more blood was pooling in her brain. The source was once again a ruptured blood vessel that he couldn't pin point and heal easily.

He wasn't sure how long he had spent trying to revive her but eventually Brown had had to pull him to one side, "She's dead, Doctor. There's nothing more we can do for her. There're plenty more who need your help, though. We've got to attend to them."

He was right. McCoy knew that. He had lost patients before, but that didn't make this any easier. The last time he had been unable to save a life had been on the Enterprise when Nero attacked. These were civilians though, not Starfleet personnel. There had been children in that cargo bay. Had one of them just lost their mother? He hadn't had to deal with a situation like this in years. In fact he had only ever had three civilian patients die in his care who had not lived a long and full life. His father had been one of them.

Deep in the claws of emotion and memory he was unable to leave her side. Eventually Spock joined him and McCoy looked up. However Spock didn't meet his eye, instead his attention was fully focused on the Vulcan woman lying on the bed. McCoy watched as Spock's expression changed slowly and subtly from one of control to one of panic.

"T'Lara," Spock said and reached out to take her hand into his.

"It's no use, Spock. I'm sorry. There was nothing I could do."

Spock stared at the lifeless Vulcan woman for a few more moments before putting her hand back down. He touched her face and gently moved a few strands of dark hair out of her face. When he pulled back his hand, his fingertips were sticky with dark green blood.

McCoy wished he were able to suppress his emotions. Another Vulcan lost. And now the patient he hadn't been able to save due to a lack of decent facilities, or possibly his own lack of knowledge of Vulcan physiology, had a name too – T'Lara. Spock had already lost so much, and now another person he had evidently been close too had died.

McCoy heard footsteps and looked around. He caught sight of the tall Vulcan who had been carrying T'Lara. The man walked towards them. Two children were following him. _This was all going to get a lot worse, wasn't it? _he thought bitterly.

"Your name is Spock?" he asked the half-Vulcan.

"Yes," Spock answered.

"Spock, son of Sarek?"

Spock nodded.

"My name is Suran," the tall Vulcan said and then bowed his head, "It is a sad day for your family, Spock."

"Suran," Spock interjected, "Please tell me what happened."

Suran nodded and started explaining, "We knew of Vulcan's destruction the moment it happened. The news spread across this quadrant of the galaxy quickly, but we did not need telling. We decided to return. It was the .... logical thing to do. However, we were on the far side of Romulan space, so it was not an easy journey as we had to travel around the perimeter of their Empire."

Brown rejoined McCoy at this point. He was holding a sheet in his arms. The Tratterian bed hadn't come with one, it was not much more than a metal table with the minimum of padding. He glanced over at the children. He took the sheet off Brown and shooed him away again quietly, trying not to interrupt Suran too much.

"Sybok had made some friends amongst the Romulans and they helped us as much as they could, but we still felt it unwise to venture too deep into their territory. Sybok had been in contact with the Romulan authorities before and expected that if they did challenge us, though, all that would happen is that we would be taken into custody. The Romulans had always been well aware of our movements."

The Vulcan paused for a few seconds before he spoke on, "It was a miscalculation on our part that their past ambivalence towards us would continue indefinitely. We were not prepared for the increased hostility between the Federation and the Romulan Empire. A Romulan Warbird intercepted us near the Milverna system. Their captain accused us of being Federation spies and they attacked our ship with the intention to destroy it."

McCoy had a million questions he wanted to ask. What had they been thinking? Where all Vulcans simply completely out of their minds? Living on a spaceship on the edge of Romulan territory with their family and kids – why? This Sybok sounded like he had good connections to the Romulans, maybe he was a diplomat or possibly an ambassador – Spock had mentioned the Vulcan ship had once belonged to his father. McCoy had met Sarek, he was an ambassador. He bit his tongue and forced himself to remain quiet, though, so Suran could finish his story.

"None of us would be here now if it were not for Sybok. He was able to destroy their ship, but he lost his life doing so. When the first disruptor fire hit the _Dvatai_ T'Lara did her best to shield the children, however she was knocked unconscious when part of the ship's structure collapse above her," again, Suran paused. He bowed his head again in respect.

"I am sorry for your loss," he said.

Spock also bowed his head. It seemed to McCoy that he looked truly forlorn. He also got the feeling that he had missed something, but he wasn't sure what.

"Sybok had had news a few years ago that you had entered Starfleet and so he hoped you might have survived. I am glad to see that you did," Suran continued.

Spock looked towards the children standing behind the tall Vulcan. McCoy looked between the Enterprise's first officer and the young Vulcans. One of them, the boy, looked as if he were about seven. In his arms he held what appeared to be a two-year old girl. Her arms were wrapped around his neck tightly. They looked terrified, but neither of them were crying. McCoy assumed they must have been T'Lara's children. The ones she had been protecting. They were very brave, he thought.

"We have a lot to discuss, Spock," Suran said, though he was looking at McCoy now, "Thank you, Doctor."

With that he turned around and started to walk away. Spock hesitated for a moment before following, leaving McCoy alone once more. He draped the sheet Brown had given him over T'Lara's body.

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_I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Wow, it took me ages to write! It was 11 pages long at one point, but that was mostly crazy backstory, hahaha! Yay, I'm so glad I've finally finished it! Now I can start writing the next chapter :-)_

_Please review and let me know what you thought! :-D_


	6. Chapter 6

_Hope you all enjoyed reading the story so far! I'm having fun writing it anyway, hehe! _

_Disclaimer: I still don't own Star Trek :-(_

**

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**Chapter 6**

Suran, Spock and the two children walked away from the medical bed in the open plan Tratterian hospital. The entire military base seemed to be housed under one large dome, there were no separate rooms, just different sections. As they walked he regarded the children.

He didn't need to be told who's children they were. The little girl had his brother Sybok's wild hair and his sister-in-law's eyes. The young boy however reminded him very much of himself at that age.

He hadn't seen or heard anything from his older half-brother since he was eleven, as Sybok and his followers had got themselves exiled from Vulcan for preaching that Surak's teachings were being implemented too rigorously and that the Romulan lifestyle was far healthier for the 'soul'. Spock hadn't agreed with his brother. He believed that logic should dominate over emotions, in accordance to the teachings of Surak. Nonetheless, the felt that their banishment hadn't been right.

When they eventually found the rest of Suran's group Spock cleared his mind of his childhood memories and looked around. It appeared that all those who hadn't required medical assistance had been led towards this large space on the base where the Tratterians had started handing out basic supplies to them. Most Vulcans were sitting together on the floor in small groups, conversing quietly with one another.

"I realise that as a Starfleet officer on a mission you must currently have many things to attend to, however...," Suran started to say, but Spock cut him off with a hand-gesture.

"In fact I am not. All of the crew are off-duty, this is not a rescue mission that has been sanctioned by Starfleet," he said.

"Good," Suran replied immediately, "Then I presume you will put your family duties first. I have to see to my own family now, if you will excuse me."

He left Spock and the children standing next to one of the large aid boxes the Tratterians had left lying around. Spock didn't even know their names and now they were his charges.

He kneeled down beside them. He decided that he was simply going to treat them as he would any Vulcan children – that is, he'd just treat them as adults.

"I am your Uncle Spock," he introduced himself to the boy, "What are your names?"

"My name is Setek, and this is T'Preia," the boy answered.

"T'Preia," he said, addressing the little girl, "Named after your great-grandmother. Your father and I often spent our afternoons studying together for school under her supervision."

She didn't reply and instead just looked at him with her large brown eyes. Spock had only lost his own mother recently and these two had just lost both their parents and were so much younger. They were very brave indeed, he thought.

"What is going to happen to us all now?" the boy asked motioning towards the rest of the group with his head. He was still carrying his sister around with him protectively.

"Soon we will get everyone back onto the ships and then we will head towards a starbase in Federation space. There you will be safe and eventually everyone will be transported to the new Vulcan homeworld," he replied.

"There's a planet, a home, for us to go to?" Setek asked.

Spock nodded, "There is."

There was no point in telling them that the world they had found was not as similar to Vulcan as he had hoped. They had never been to Vulcan after all.

"You'll be able to stay on the planet and grow up there. You won't have to travel around on a space ship anymore," he continued.

"Are you going to look after us now?" T'Preia asked wide eyed.

"Yes," he answered.

Immediately Setek ran up to him and hugged him tightly. T'Preia also loosened her grip on her brother so she could also put one arm around Spock.

He realised that he hadn't acted logically, that in that moment he had been unable to repress him emotions, but his family had been torn apart enough. Spock hugged his niece and his nephew and at that moment in time there was nothing more important to him than those children.

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_Thanks for reading! :-D Please let me know what you think and if you enjoyed it!_


	7. Chapter 7

_And here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy! :)_

_Disclaimer: I don't own trek_

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**Chapter 7**

One Romulan Warbird had travelled up to the border, as close as it dared to, it seemed. Of course it turned out to be the ship that Radaik was commanding, Kirk thought with more than a little apprehension.

"They're hailing us, Captain," Uhura said.

"Lieutenant," Kirk replied, "Translate again for us, if you would be so kind."

He got up out of his chair just as Radaik's face appeared on the view screen.

"Captain Kirk, you are insisting there are no ships here. It will be of no concern to you therefore that we fire at them, then. I mean, that we fire at empty space, captain? Remove your fleet or we will engage it with fire," Uhura translated.

Radaik's face was replaced with the black of space once more. He'd terminated the connection without waiting for a reply. Well, Kirk was not overly impressed with the Romulan's negotiation tactics.

"Sulu, can you detect what their nearest target might be? We are out of range of their disruptors, aren't we?" he asked.

"Yes sir, there is no way they can lock onto us here. We are too far away to be able to scan what target they have locked their disruptors onto, but it is most likely one of our probes," Sulu answered.

And, as to confirm Sulu's theory, the Romulans fired at one of the Enterprise's probes and since it was mounted on a photon torpedo it exploded in a large ball of fiery debris.

"So now they'll either believe that our fleet consisted of miniature ships or they'll have worked out that we were luring them here with a fake fleet. Either way, I don't look forward to listening to Radaik's reaction to this," Kirk said.

Another photon torpedo exploded.

Kirk looked around the bridge, "Anyone have any ideas what they're up to?"

"Captain," Uhura said, "We are being hailed again."

"As much as I'd love to just ignore his hails, I suppose I'm going to have to listen to him. So what has he got to say of our photon torpedo probes?" he said and Uhura put him through onto the screen once more and translated.

"What is this insult to us Romulans? Explain yourself now."

Kirk took a deep breath before launching into the explanation Scotty had quickly come up with for him.

"Captain Radaik, as I said we were simply carrying out scientific investigations of the nebula. I'm afraid to have to repeat myself here. In order to do this we had to create a grid with our probes. The only way to power them though was to hook them up to photon torpedoes," Kirk said. And the brilliant part was that that last bit wasn't even a lie, he thought.

"I am very sorry that your sensors perceived them to be actual ships," Kirk continued, his voice and gestures overly apologetic.

Even so, he knew Radaik was very unlikely to buy the story. He watched the Romulan's facial expressions intently as Uhura finished her translation. Kirk could tell that he didn't believe the explanation he'd offered for one minute, but there was something there, he thought, something in that man's expression that gave him hope this situation could still be salvaged. He was not going to let it come to war.

"Radaik, I can see that you don't believe me. That is fair enough. In fact I applaud you for being so cautious. If I were in your position I certainly wouldn't believe a word of what I was saying," Kirk said, gesturing with his arms to emphasise important words, although that would of course be completely lost in the translation.

He caught sight of Sulu in front of him, who had turned round in his seat and was clearly frowning.

Kirk ploughed on, "You are doing your best to protect the Romulan people, I can tell that. I am not an aggressor either. As you can tell, regardless of what is going on here, we are not attempting to invade Romulan space. Whatever it is we are doing here, it is something we can talk about at a negotiation table without starting a pointless war that would only lead to death and destruction for both sides."

He waited for Radaik to reply to Uhura's translation, but the Romulan remained silent.

"Uhura?" he asked, not knowing what else to do.

She simply shook her head at him.

Radaik continued to stare silently at him and it made him nervous. Another Romulan negotiation trick no doubt, he thought.

Eventually Radaik spoke, though.

"We will understand what you are doing here. Then we can talk about war or peace," he said and terminated the connection once again.

Damn it, Kirk thought. He knew that it was his fault they were in this position now, but he didn't like being talked to like that by Radaik one bit. What unsettled him most was that thoughts of war kept infiltrating his mind - and it would seem they were getting into Radaik's too. And they were talking about that possibility openly too. He sat back down in his chair.

"Uhura," he said finally, "Anyway to find out how Spock and McCoy are doing without alerting the Romulans of their mission?"

"We can try to disguise a subspace message as something else, but there is always a small chance they will be able to work out what we are doing," she answered.

"I understand," he said.

"Captain, do you want me to send them a message?" she asked.

"No, I don't think so," Kirk sighed, "I am worried that the Romulans might have set them a trap, but if they've not been seriously delayed they should already be in the Milverna system. Send a message to Deep Space 7 on a secure channel though, see if they've heard anything."

"Captain, it's Radaik again," Uhura said a few minutes later.

"Very well, put him on screen," Kirk said. This was becoming incredibly repetitive.

"Captain, I have conferred with my superiors and with Romulan intelligence."

Oh, so it's 'Captain' again all of a sudden, Kirk thought. He wasn't sure whether the Romulan's improved manners were a good or a bad sign.

"There is a situation in the Milverna system, the destruction of one of our ships by Federation spies. We will escort the Enterprise, your ship, to the Milveran system. I advise you to come with us and not fight. That might cause yet another incident, although this time it is a Federation ship that would be destroyed."

Ah, not good, Kirk thought.

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_Thanks for reading, let me know if you enjoyed it :)_


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